More Waivers

Spring Training is starting up, which inevitably means we are going to hear about how Player X will probably make the team over Player Y because they are out of options. As I already showed, most players clear waivers anyways. What type of players don't? Is a player being claimed a big loss? Here's a list of every player I could find who was placed on outright waivers from late February through early April last year.

Yoel Hernandez	Philadelphia	2/22/2007	Cleared
Lincoln Holdzkom	Texas	3/10/2007	Cleared
Jason Stokes	Florida	3/16/2007	Cleared
Jack Cust	San Diego	3/17/2007	Cleared
Ben Hendrickson	Milwaukee	3/18/2007	Cleared
Michael Restovich	Washington	3/19/2007	Cleared
Bernie Castro	Washington	3/19/2007	Cleared
Matt Roney	Toronto	3/22/2007	Cleared
JD Closser	Colorado	3/22/2007	Cleared
Sean Tracey	Chicago White Sox	3/23/2007	Baltimore
Chris Narveson	St. Louis	3/24/2007	Cleared
Bobby Crosby	Cincinnati	3/24/2007	Cleared
Jonathan Johnson	Atlanta	3/24/2007	Cleared
Tim Redding	Washington	3/25/2007	Cleared
Billy Traber	Washington	3/25/2007	Cleared
Jermaine Van Buren	Washington	3/25/2007	Cleared
Rick Bauer	Texas	3/26/2007	Cleared
Marino Salas	Milwaukee	3/26/2007	Cleared
Charlton Jimerson	Houston	3/26/2007	Cleared
Ezequiel Astacio	Houston	3/26/2007	Texas
Jeff Salazar	Colorado	3/26/2007	Arizona
Adam Donachie	Kansas City	3/26/2007	Cleared
Mike Rivera	Milwaukee	3/27/2007	Cleared
Grant Balfour	Milwaukee	3/27/2007	Cleared
Luis Terrero	Chicago White Sox	3/27/2007	Cleared
Scott Dohmann	Tampa Bay	3/28/2007	Cleared
Kenny Ray	Kansas City	3/28/2007	Cleared
David Krynzel	Arizona	3/29/2007	Cleared
Brian Tallet	Toronto	3/29/2007	Cleared
JD Durbin	Minnesota	3/29/2007	Arizona
Alexis Gomez	Colorado	3/30/2007	Cleared
Andy Phillips	New York Yankees	3/30/2007	Cleared
Jon Adkins	New York Mets	3/30/2007	Cleared
Merkin Valdez	San Francisco	3/30/2007	Cleared
Dustin McGowen	Toronto	3/30/2007	Cleared
Ezequiel Astacio	Texas	3/31/2007	Cleared
Marlon Byrd	Texas	3/31/2007	Cleared
Guillermo Quiroz	Texas	3/31/2007	Cleared
Francisco Cruceta	Texas	3/31/2007	Cleared
Adam Fox	Texas	3/31/2007	Cleared
Andrew Brown	San Diego	3/31/2007	Cleared
Justin Germano	San Diego	3/31/2007	Cleared
Michael Garciaparra	Seattle	4/1/2007	Philadelphia
Antonio Perez	Oakland	4/1/2007	Cleared
Todd Williams	Baltimore	4/1/2007	Cleared
JD Durbin	Arizona	4/5/2007	Boston
Simon Ferrer	Colorado	4/6/2007	Cleared

That's 47 players placed on outright waivers last spring training, with 41 clearing. That's 87.2% of players who could not make the roster making it through waivers without a problem. On top of that, what has happened to those players who were claimed?

Sean Tracey is best known as the pitcher who Ozzie Guillen called out for not throwing at a hitter. He wasn't even out of options last spring, so the White Sox were simply trying to clear room on the 40 man roster for somebody. He was then claimed by Baltimore, who eventually removed him after getting injured and struggling in the minors.

Texas claimed Ezequiel Astacio off waivers from Houston. Out of options, the Rangers also had to send him through waivers, where he cleared and put up a 5.5 ERA in AAA Oklahoma over the course of the season.

Jeff Salazar still had an option remaining, so he was claimed when he didn't have to be sent through waivers. Still, as a fourth outfielder at best, the Rockies didn't miss much from losing him.

J.D. Durbin is the most interesting of all of these guys. Ranked as the Twins' #10 prospect last year, injuries forced Durbin into running out of options in the spring. Not making the Twins roster, he was claimed off waivers by Arizona (8th priority). Arizona then tried to slip him through waivers, where he was claimed by Boston (20th priority). Boston, also without room on the roster for Durbin, put him on waivers, where he was claimed by Philadelphia (18th priority). Philadelphia, in what must have been a tumultuous few weeks for Durbin, pushed him through waivers, this time clearing. You could make the case that Durbin was lost as a result of being out of options, but the the Twins were truly serious about wanting him, they could have claimed him when Philadelphia put him out there. Durbin eventually put up an ERA north of 6 with meddling ratios in 65 innings of work as a swing man. This is not a move the Twins will end up regretting.

Michael Garciaparra was claimed by Philadelphia. In addition to being the latest to come down with Billy Ripken Syndrome, Garciaparra still had three option years remaining, and put up pathetic numbers across three levels last year before being moved off the roster.

In conclusion, two players who were out of options were claimed off waivers last Spring. Both cleared waivers within a month after being claimed. The amount of options a player has left should not be considered in whether or not he makes a roster.